LESSON 24

I do not perceive my own best interests.

1 In no
situation that arises do you realize the outcome that would make you
happy. Therefore, you have no guide to appropriate action, and no way
of judging the result. What you do is determined by your perception
of the situation, and that perception is wrong. It is inevitable,
then, that you will not serve your own best interests. Yet they are
your only goal in any situation which is correctly perceived.
Otherwise, you will not recognize what they are.

2 If you
realized that you do not perceive your own best interests, you could
be taught what they are. But in the presence of your conviction that
you do know what they are, you cannot learn. The idea for today is a
step toward opening your mind so that learning can begin.

3 The
exercises for today require much more honesty than you are accustomed
to using. A few subjects, honestly and carefully considered in each
of the five practice periods which should be undertaken today, will
be more helpful than a more cursory examination of a large number.
Two minutes are suggested for each of the mind searching periods
which the exercises involve.

4 The practice
periods should begin with repeating today's idea, followed by
searching the mind, with closed eyes, for unresolved situations about
which you are currently concerned. The emphasis should be on
uncovering the outcome you want. You will quickly realize that you
have a number of goals in mind as part of the desired outcome, and
also that these goals are on different levels and often conflict.

5 In applying
the idea for today, name each situation that occurs to you, and then
enumerate carefully as many goals as possible that you would like to
be met in its resolution. The form of each application should be
roughly as follows:

In the situation involving ________, I would like
________ to happen, and ________ to happen,

and so on. Try to cover as many
different kinds of outcomes as may honestly occur to you, even if
some of them do not appear to be directly related to the situation,
or even to be inherent in it at all.

6 If these
exercises are done properly, you will quickly recognize that you are
making a large number of demands of the situation which have nothing
to do with it. You will also recognize that many of your goals are
contradictory, that you have no unified outcome in mind, and that you
must experience disappointment in connection with some of your goals,
however the situation turns out.

7 After
covering the list of as many hoped-for goals as possible for each
unresolved situation that crosses your mind, say to yourself: